2020 Allant 9.9S Grinding Noise from motor or is it?

[Colorado_rider]

This is definitely an issue of either an inadequately speced hub or a batch of faulty hubs produced by Shimano and shipped to Trek for this particular bike. It is becoming quite common. Trek is ramping it up and I predict a hub recall soon. Mine was one of the firsts to develop the rear hub grinding noise and actually failed in the shop, after they thought it was the motor and replaced it. They were test riding it in the shop and the hub lost it, with an internal clutch that failed completely. They rebuilt the hub with all new clutch parts, springs, pawls and gear. That failed again within less than 200 miles. I am waiting for Onyx to get us a hub that will work on this bike but my Allant 9.9s has been parked, gathering dust for a month now.

Get back to your guy at the Trek shop that he needs to talk to Trek corporate on this as the issue is on the front burner with them now.

I suggest you share the following information with him to get him on the right track:

"OK, just got off the phone with Jason Schumacher at Trek...
1st thing HE brought up in the conversation was that he apologized for not getting back to me regarding the rear hub issue.
Bottom line he said they have initiated a FQA (Field Quality Alert) and are working with Shimano to address the problem of the hub.
Quite frankly, I'm not really sure about too much more other than maybe you guys have maybe more valuable information as described here that you have been made aware of from your tech guys at your LBS. Point being, maybe you might want to share some of that info with Jason to push the envelope so that Shimano either fesses up and does a mass recall and or Trek saves face by using an optional hub (like the Onyx).
Jason (customer service manager for Trek) contact info:
[email protected] "

I just emailed Jason. Everyone else on here should do the same.

 

[AllenEarl]

Shop has installed the third XT hub on my 9.9 but I haven't got the bike back yet. The Bosch motor mounts also failed and I'm waiting on those. Its been two months in the shop this time still waiting...

Shop tells me now its not the motor mounts but internal to the Bosch motor like a shaft issue. Shop Waiting on Bosch to send new motor.

 

[neilpryde1984]

Hi Guys

I had exactly the same grinding sound like the most of you (exactly the same like the sound file in the first post). After some part swapping and testing different things at my LBS, we figured out, that the sound came from the rear fender. After "plugging" it out from his snap mount, putting a little bit of grease on the mount and reinstalling the fender again, the bike was as silent as it should.

My dealer mentioned, that this kind of mount (fixed on the left and right) is suboptimal. As soon as you sitting on the bike/pushing the pedals, the frame will be deformed a little bit. And then, one side of the fender stays where it is and the other side begins to move/slide inside the mount and we have the grinding sound..

I'm quite sure, that not everyone might have the same issue, but probably it could help..

Cheers
Chris

 

[imaredia]

Mine grinding noise was solved by taking fender out. I never ride in rain so they were basically useless for me.

 

[ppilarski]

Mine grinding noise was solved by taking fender out. I never ride in rain so they were basically useless for me.

In all due respect, that’s not a mechanical grinding sound you were hearing, probably more of a creaking or squeaking as we have described in other posts. Most are dealing with mechanical imperfections in the rear hub. Glad you were able to resolve your specific issue though, although unfortunate that parts have to be taken off or heavily greased in order to resolve for the time being. Not good for such an expensive bicycle...

 

[KurtEDH]

I took my Allant with the "creaking, choo choo train" Shimano XT rear free hub in to my local bike shop again. Tech got on the ball ordering up a whole new wheel - second time.

In the meantime, I contacted Trek customer support and they in turn contacted my local bike shop regarding my Allant 9.9 and had a conversation.

My local bike shop just called me and told me that Trek is going to send them a Bontrager Rapid Drive hub as a suitable replacement for the Shimano XT. The local bike shop will lace up the replacement hub.

Does anyone know anything about this Bontrager Rapid Drive hub??

Thanks.

 

[Deacon Blues]

I've got around 650km on my Cannondale Topstone Lefty 3, with the Gen 4 Bosch motor, and I'm starting to notice a clicking sound (only when I pedal with some force).
It's getting louder and the noise is changing slightly, so I suspect I'm in for the same failure as you Trek owners.

Was the final consciences that it wasn't the motor and that the rear hub was the problem?

 

[Mulezen]

I have an Allant 9s and replaced my hubs with Onyx. I had the clicking in crank area under force (like train hitting Rail expansion cracks). I replaced them on GP after others had such terrible problems with the Shimano hubs. I still have the problem to some extent but not so much. The bike is so quiet now the wind noise is my biggest problem. Does the Cannondale use the same Shimano hub?
Others here with greater technical expertise perhaps can help you

 

[Deacon Blues]

It's a Shimano hub (SLM, 11-42, 11 sp)

On the Cannondale site it states that the rear hub is a Formula Cartiridghe bearing, 12x148mm thru-axle

 

[usdmattiphone]

My Allant 9.9s started having the really bad grinding noise after about 500 miles. I took it into my LBS on the 10th and even after telling them about all the reports of the issue they said they "fixed" it by tightening one of my pedal arms, of course it still had the noise so i had to show them again and then they said they'd call Shimano. I called back on the 15th and they said that Shimano had no parts available but gave them a "fix" for it using a special grease. So i took my bike home and had no noise until 7 miles into my first ride at which point it came back in full force. Looks like I'm going to have to bring it back, which is a bummer if they have no parts since what am I supposed to do if I don't want to drop $500 on an onyx hub?

 

[gringo]

Does anyone know anything about this Bontrager Rapid Drive hub??

The Allant+7s that I have comes stock with a Bontrager hub. I have no idea if it is the Rapid Drive or another Bontrager model. But zero issues with my Bontrager hubs. The Allant+8s also comes stock with the Bontrager hub.

 

[Mulezen]

My Allant 9.9s started having the really bad grinding noise after about 500 miles. I took it into my LBS on the 10th and even after telling them about all the reports of the issue they said they "fixed" it by tightening one of my pedal arms, of course it still had the noise so i had to show them again and then they said they'd call Shimano. I called back on the 15th and they said that Shimano had no parts available but gave them a "fix" for it using a special grease. So i took my bike home and had no noise until 7 miles into my first ride at which point it came back in full force. Looks like I'm going to have to bring it back, which is a bummer if they have no parts since what am I supposed to do if I don't want to drop $500 on an onyx hub?

Others here have had Trek replace their hubs. Push LBS

 

[Deacon Blues]

Is there another hub that will work that doesn't cost so much money?

 

[misteracng]

Industry nine hubs are good as well, they still have a ratchet noise but it’s quieter with quicker engagement then the stock shimano

 

[Deacon Blues]

I might go all out and buy a set of carbon wheels for my Lefty with DT Swift 240s hubs. I was thinking of purchasing a set of carbon wheels sometime in the future anyways.......just haven't told my wife yet.

 

[Alaskan]

In my case Trek paid for a new Onyx hub as it was the one suggested by their mechanic. The agree to pay for the hub if I paid the labor cost of lacing it in to the wheel. The hub was $450 retail the charge to me was $80. They did loan me a wheel with the Bontrager microspline hub while we were waiting for the Onyx. The Bontrager was trouble free but noisy. The 9.9 has the 12 speed Shimano cassette which requires the new microspline hub. There are several companies that make microspline hub - Industry 9 - Onyx - DT Swiss - Bontrager - Shimano. I don't know it there is a design flaw in the Shimano hub that was the sourced part on the 9.9 or if there was just a bad batch but they have been problematic all over the USA.

 

[usdmattiphone]

In my case Trek paid for a new Onyx hub as it was the one suggested by their mechanic. The agree to pay for the hub if I paid the labor cost of lacing it in to the wheel. The hub was $450 retail the charge to me was $80. They did loan me a wheel with the Bontrager microspline hub while we were waiting for the Onyx. The Bontrager was trouble free but noisy. The 9.9 has the 12 speed Shimano cassette which requires the new microspline hub. There are several companies that make microspline hub - Industry 9 - Onyx - DT Swiss - Bontrager - Shimano. I don't know it there is a design flaw in the Shimano hub that was the sourced part on the 9.9 or if there was just a bad batch but they have been problematic all over the USA.

Which Onyx hub did you get installed?

 

[Alaskan]

Which Onyx hub did you get installed?

It is the microspline version of the classic which is heavier with thicker wall in the housing. I am not sure of the part number but the folks at Onyx can let you know the correct hub for the 9.9s

 

[Mulezen]

I have the classic...no complaints here. LBS called them

 

[Seiber]

I was also experiencing the "metal scraping" sound on my 9.9s rear hub. I also didn't enjoy the random freewheel buzzing. I replaced my 9.9S rear hub with the Onyx hub. It is completely silent now.

The part on the invoice is:
103802 MFU REAR MTB CL MS - 142/12mm thru (BLACK)

I just called Onyx and they knew what to order.